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- Anne of Denmark (1574-1619) was the wife of King James VI and I, and as such Queen of Scotland from their marriage by proxy on 20 August 1589 and Queen of England and Ireland from 24 March 1603 until her death in 1619. When Anne intended to sail to Scotland in 1589 her ship was delayed by adverse weather. Contemporary superstition blamed the delays to her voyage and other misfortunes on "contrary winds" summoned by witchcraft. There were witchcraft trials in Denmark and in Scotland. The King's kinsman, Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell came into suspicion. The Chancellor of Scotland John Maitland of Thirlestane was thought to be Bothwell's enemy, Maitland was lampooned in a poem Rob Stene's Dream, and Anne of Denmark made Maitland her enemy. Historians continue to investigate these significant events. The use of the phrase was not particular to the sea voyages of Anne of Denmark and James VI of Scotland. His great-grandmother Margaret Tudor had written to Henry VIII in 1540 that her son, James V had been threatened by "contrare wyndis", Our dearest son has been in great danger of seas by contrary winds, which, against his mind, by extreme storms, compelled to make course forth of this east sea northward, compassing the most part of this realm through the occident seas, and by the grace of God arrived in the port of Saint Ninian called Whithorn. Delays to the departure of Esmé Stewart from Scotland in 1582 were similarly blamed on "contrarious winds". The historian Liv Helene Willumsen examines international correspondence and highlights examples of the phrase "contrary winds", explaining that in 1589 fears over straightforward events like adverse weather at sea were blamed on supernatural causes, and the powerless and the vulnerable, to bolster personal and royal honour. (en)
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